An Orgy of Joy

Steve has coined an apt phrase for what we are experiencing in Rome—an orgy of joy. No wild sex today but definitely a lot of fun.

Easter Sunday began with a torrent of rain accompanied by thunder and lightening. (The weather here lately has been unstable to say the least. Two days ago we had a hail storm. ) Finally, around 2 it looked like it might clear up so we ventured out intending to go to a free concert of music by Duke Ellington in a church near the Campidoglio. I never did find the right church but we decided to plow through the crowds around the Piazza Venezia and somehow found ourselves at Trajan’s Market, which has only recently been excavated. The space looked particularly beautiful after all the rain, the stones and ruins glistening in the sudden sunlight. What was best of all was there were hardly any people there. We could wander around the ruins without negotiating through hordes of tourists.

Afterwards, we stopped into a café for steaming mugs of fabulous hot chocolate and then walked back to Trastevere in the late afternoon. Steve got to watch a basketball game on Sky TV while I did some laundry. We are fortunate to have a lavatrice but it seems like no Roman household comes equipped with a clothes dryer. When it’s raining, I drape our clean but wet clothes on the bannisters and the radiators. It works.

After the game, we walked to a yet another pizzeria just a short walk from out house that we’ve been meaning to try. The verdict after sharing a thin crusted five cheese pizza: outstanding!